I'm just amazed it took this long for any athority, EU or American to say this.
For crying out loud. They want to take a company that controls what 50 Million Americans see and think the internet is and combine it with a company that controls a singificant chuck of the broadband network, CNN, More Movie content that I would ever know what to do with, Music empire, etc.
Here we are, about to enter the 21st Century and the US still can't figure out what the word "Obvious" means. The problem is a bit more deep rooted than some laws and inaccessable patent examiners. The problem is that the examiners themselves do not even understand what "Obvious" to a programmer. It is obvious to save customer information on your server so that when they revisit the site, they don't have to enter it again. Yes. My boss took us to lunch a few weeks ago and the waiter just walked up with his receipt to sign. They had his CC info locally so he would never need to show it again. Convient. It's also prior art to amazons patent. So, what can be done.
1) Patent reviewers should come from the industry they are reviewing patents for
2) Patent reviewers should be reviewed by an outside source
3) A "Method of Business patents" should be null and void. You can't "invent a method" if that were the case, I would patent the use of outerspace travel as a way of rubbing elbows for making business ties. It hasn't been done and there is no prior art (except for the fact that they already do it on boats and planes)
Just because it uses a new technology doesn't mean its nonobvious.
How can you recall something that only shipped on paper? Ask for the specs back?
Anyhow, serves them right for trying to cheat the PIII past 1Ghz when its not ready.
If patents like this were issued 100 years ago, the Wright Brothers would have been able to patent "A Method for transporting human beings over international borders for the purpose of sound based communication and gatherings relating to business contractual dealings." Then every time someone flew to US from Europe to sign a contract, the Wright familiy would get a percentage of the profits and as a direct result, noone would want to sign contracts with the US and its economy would not be what it is today.
These kind of patents are not just stupid, they are damaging to the economic well being of the US.
"Maybe it's just us, but that sounds like a deliriously naïve oversimplification to us-- and we love oversimplifications. The fact that Linux appeared in a market vacuum of hardcore geeks just waiting for a product that satisfied their noblest nerdy instincts hardly signals a death knell for a platform that holds elegance, attention to detail, and ease of use above all other concerns. Whether or not you consider it a good thing, we strongly suspect that non-geeks will outnumber the geeks for many more years to come-- and meanwhile, Mac OS X is barreling down on the future like a freight train. Or at least like a freight train moving really slowly. It's still going to arrive before the geek shall inherit the earth, though.
Hey, we have nothing against Linux. We like Linux. Some of our best friends use Linux. But we've used Linux, too, not all that long ago, and frankly, it's still got a ways to go before our parents are going to feel comfortable running out and buying a consumer computer running Red Hat. We don't relish the idea of explaining the syntax of chmod and major and minor device numbers in device files to an audience that, on the whole, can't even figure out how to get their VCRs to stop blinking '12:00' without covering the display readout with electrical tape. The average shmoe is still going to reach for Windows; the average shmoe who does his homework is going to reach for a Mac. As for Linux, call us when our moms can use it."
From the NYU faq:
"How does the system work? The product that we are introducing this year is a version developed for use on the Apple computer. You will require an Apple G3 PowerBook...with a DVD drive."
Software popularity should be based on one thing and one thing only: Quality. There is a misguided belief that Open Source leads to quality. This is not true. Linux is a great example. Linux is an excellent terminal workstation and a server. There has been a lot of research and time investment by the Linux community to achieve this. But...It's not the best. Solaris is, hand's down. If you want a corporate application and management server, you pretty much NEED WinNT. Shame too. Too bad OSS people have little idea of the needs of the corporate world, with NT being the POS it is.
Anyhow, there is no reason to beleive that OSS is going to surpass closed source anyday now. OSS is domaniate on the internet today. Has been for some time. This isn't new. Yet, OSS has essentially a near 0% marketshare of the desktop. Gnome and KDE are wholefully inadequet for home needs. Very little multimedia support, ugly fonts, horrible printing support (both in accuracy and printers available), an interface that makes Windows look easy, et. al. Progress is slow in UI on Linux and innovation is pretty much absent. Copy copy copy. Copy WIndows, Copy Office, Copy WinAMP, pick your app. It's pathetic.
An OS written by programmers for other programmers will NEVER be used by my mother.
I guess we all know now that CNN reads Slashdot. Article goes up, couple posts later, CNN alters their page. So much for journalistic integrity. Then again, journalistic integrity is something CNN hasn't been blamed of having since it turned the Gulf War into a big video game.
"The g4 is a great processor, but i'd never consider buying a computer with *no* expansion beyond usb"
Which is exactly why the G4, comes with 3 Firewire ports (2 external, 1 internal), 2 USB, Gigabit ethernet, SVGA port, Audio out, enough room in the case for 7 more drives beyond the standard harddrive/DVD configuration, and still have 3 empty PCI slots.
"Our goal in presenting the Rumor Mill is to have fun while reminding you that any rumor on any site may contain some real leaks, a lot of specultation, and sometimes deliberate disinformation. When visiting a rumor
site (and I consider them fun), read critically."
Dan Knight (the operator of Low End Mac) makes no claims of truth about his "rumors". I fact he freely admits that his rumors are made up. Please if you are going to post about Mac related stuff, hire a Maccie who can filter this crap out.
You should change the following:
"All of their Mac versions come out a year after the Windows versions. "
to
"All of thier Mac versions (of Office) come out two years before the Windows version"
Im no MS fan. Office is not for me. I have used Office 97(PC) Office 98(Mac) and Office 2000(PC) and of the three Office 98 (Mac) is the best. It had Office 2000 features before Windows and all Windows did was catch up (note I speak of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) to the Mac version. I've never understood this. Personally I'm willing to bet ole Stevie is holding those patents up in ole' Bills face saying "Either pay us the 6 Billion in royalities you owe us, or Make Office not suck"
You know it's interesting: 20 crashes in 2 years. That's a bit high, don't you think.
You computer crashing is not Mozilla's fault its the OS/Particular install you are running. Personally, the last Mozilla I installed was M15. It crashed on my EVERY DAY I used it.
Decided it wasn't worth the trouble to beta test it and moved on.
Okay, this may seem like flame bait, but hear me through. Mozilla could be totally under GPL from begining to end, and it won't change the following.
1. It's late
2. It's becoming more irrelevent due to IE's desktop monolopy on Win desktops.
3. It takes 5 years to launch it (altough I suspect that is a result of being debug compiled)
It may initiate others (read GPL purists) to take gecko and build other browsers, but even then I'm not sure if its that big of deal. Don't both Gnome and KDE ship with their own browsers? In a desktop situation, a tech support person doesn't want to install or configure any app that can't be easily restored and will usually go with what app is the most prominent one, which may or may not be Mozilla or Gecko. Technological improvement takes second to ease of restoring. This is why IE is used by default. It's easier to restored, it's part of the OS/GUI enviroment.
1) Wininfo may or may not know what it's talking about. Just because a "reputable" source of info says something, it doesn't mean or imply it's true. How often has ZDNet, CNN, CNet, et al. been wrong?
2) This is a distraction. Since a OSS project has been undertaken to reverse engineer Windows, given the choice between Linux or some BSD flavor on the scene or some OSS based Windows Clone possibly entering the scene, which OS do you think MS would prefer?
3) This is a very real market driven product. Office 98 for the Mac has made MS money without loosing customers to the Mac. MS would be foolish to ever cancel the product. I know in our Institute, the MIS guy would love to slap office on our community RedHat boxes (yes in the Scientific community, Unix is a desktop and has long been on).
4) MS is just making this up in an attempt to distract from its lawsuit. That way the Judge(s) who may preside over the case next can read about it and think "well, they are porting it to Linux now, why do we have to split them?" and MS would never have to say it outloud.
Personally, given MS's behavior pattern of pre-announcing their annoucements, I take it with a grain of salt. Anyone who believed that NT would be desktop today instead of the upcoming WinME bug fix when MS said that Win98 first edition would be the last was a fool. Anyone who beleives that thier.NET annoucenment is nothing more then a smoke screen to keep people from adapting ISP's using Mozilla to deleiver applications while they whip something up that sort of looks like the.NET (which was vague anyways) is a fool. Just like "WinNT 5 (aka Win2000) is just a few months away" crap they pulled for what 4-5 years. Even if WinINFO isn't wrong, this is not "just around the corner" or "anyday now" this is gonna happen in a VERY long time. By that time, I'll be using ABI word on MacOS X for all of my WP needs, Linux kids will be using some GNU office suite of thier choice, and the rest of the Mac community will be using Apple works (they shipped it on EVERY damn iMac they sold, which is well over half of their shipping machines, eventually people just won't need office anymore)
Early visions of the Virtual Community haven't come to pass for a variety of reasons.
This clearly demonstrates you have no idea what you are talking about. AOL, the enemy of geeks everywhere, is FILLED with hundreds of not THOUSANDS of Virtual Communities. All built and maintained by its users. Unfortunatly AOL gets greedy and once the VC is popular, they take control over it and run it into the ground. The point still stands. I know of an other VC over at that other site that I won't mention that is maintained by its users. This is all not even mentioning IRC chatrooms, MUD's, webrings, Instant Messaging, et al.
Just because you don't like the very popular and available options does not mean they didn't/don't work out or exist.
Slashdot Mirror
For crying out loud. They want to take a company that controls what 50 Million Americans see and think the internet is and combine it with a company that controls a singificant chuck of the broadband network, CNN, More Movie content that I would ever know what to do with, Music empire, etc.
Someone say 'New More Powerful Microsoft'.
Screw that
1) Patent reviewers should come from the industry they are reviewing patents for
2) Patent reviewers should be reviewed by an outside source
3) A "Method of Business patents" should be null and void. You can't "invent a method" if that were the case, I would patent the use of outerspace travel as a way of rubbing elbows for making business ties. It hasn't been done and there is no prior art (except for the fact that they already do it on boats and planes)
Just because it uses a new technology doesn't mean its nonobvious.
How can you recall something that only shipped on paper? Ask for the specs back? Anyhow, serves them right for trying to cheat the PIII past 1Ghz when its not ready.
These kind of patents are not just stupid, they are damaging to the economic well being of the US.
"Maybe it's just us, but that sounds like a deliriously naïve oversimplification to us-- and we love oversimplifications. The fact that Linux appeared in a market vacuum of hardcore geeks just waiting for a product that satisfied their noblest nerdy instincts hardly signals a death knell for a platform that holds elegance, attention to detail, and ease of use above all other concerns. Whether or not you consider it a good thing, we strongly suspect that non-geeks will outnumber the geeks for many more years to come-- and meanwhile, Mac OS X is barreling down on the future like a freight train. Or at least like a freight train moving really slowly. It's still going to arrive before the geek shall inherit the earth, though.
Hey, we have nothing against Linux. We like Linux. Some of our best friends use Linux. But we've used Linux, too, not all that long ago, and frankly, it's still got a ways to go before our parents are going to feel comfortable running out and buying a consumer computer running Red Hat. We don't relish the idea of explaining the syntax of chmod and major and minor device numbers in device files to an audience that, on the whole, can't even figure out how to get their VCRs to stop blinking '12:00' without covering the display readout with electrical tape. The average shmoe is still going to reach for Windows; the average shmoe who does his homework is going to reach for a Mac. As for Linux, call us when our moms can use it."
Yet another Mac on innovation.
Anyhow, there is no reason to beleive that OSS is going to surpass closed source anyday now. OSS is domaniate on the internet today. Has been for some time. This isn't new. Yet, OSS has essentially a near 0% marketshare of the desktop. Gnome and KDE are wholefully inadequet for home needs. Very little multimedia support, ugly fonts, horrible printing support (both in accuracy and printers available), an interface that makes Windows look easy, et. al. Progress is slow in UI on Linux and innovation is pretty much absent. Copy copy copy. Copy WIndows, Copy Office, Copy WinAMP, pick your app. It's pathetic.
An OS written by programmers for other programmers will NEVER be used by my mother.
Uh oh, now you are gonna be sued.
I guess we all know now that CNN reads Slashdot. Article goes up, couple posts later, CNN alters their page. So much for journalistic integrity. Then again, journalistic integrity is something CNN hasn't been blamed of having since it turned the Gulf War into a big video game.
Which is exactly why the G4, comes with 3 Firewire ports (2 external, 1 internal), 2 USB, Gigabit ethernet, SVGA port, Audio out, enough room in the case for 7 more drives beyond the standard harddrive/DVD configuration, and still have 3 empty PCI slots.
Sounds pretty darn upgradeable to me.
"Our goal in presenting the Rumor Mill is to have fun while reminding you that any rumor on any site may contain some real leaks, a lot of specultation, and sometimes deliberate disinformation. When visiting a rumor site (and I consider them fun), read critically."
Dan Knight (the operator of Low End Mac) makes no claims of truth about his "rumors". I fact he freely admits that his rumors are made up. Please if you are going to post about Mac related stuff, hire a Maccie who can filter this crap out.
to
"All of thier Mac versions (of Office) come out two years before the Windows version"
Im no MS fan. Office is not for me. I have used Office 97(PC) Office 98(Mac) and Office 2000(PC) and of the three Office 98 (Mac) is the best. It had Office 2000 features before Windows and all Windows did was catch up (note I speak of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) to the Mac version. I've never understood this. Personally I'm willing to bet ole Stevie is holding those patents up in ole' Bills face saying "Either pay us the 6 Billion in royalities you owe us, or Make Office not suck"
You know it's interesting: 20 crashes in 2 years. That's a bit high, don't you think. You computer crashing is not Mozilla's fault its the OS/Particular install you are running. Personally, the last Mozilla I installed was M15. It crashed on my EVERY DAY I used it. Decided it wasn't worth the trouble to beta test it and moved on.
1. It's late
2. It's becoming more irrelevent due to IE's desktop monolopy on Win desktops.
3. It takes 5 years to launch it (altough I suspect that is a result of being debug compiled)
It may initiate others (read GPL purists) to take gecko and build other browsers, but even then I'm not sure if its that big of deal. Don't both Gnome and KDE ship with their own browsers? In a desktop situation, a tech support person doesn't want to install or configure any app that can't be easily restored and will usually go with what app is the most prominent one, which may or may not be Mozilla or Gecko. Technological improvement takes second to ease of restoring. This is why IE is used by default. It's easier to restored, it's part of the OS/GUI enviroment.
2) This is a distraction. Since a OSS project has been undertaken to reverse engineer Windows, given the choice between Linux or some BSD flavor on the scene or some OSS based Windows Clone possibly entering the scene, which OS do you think MS would prefer?
3) This is a very real market driven product. Office 98 for the Mac has made MS money without loosing customers to the Mac. MS would be foolish to ever cancel the product. I know in our Institute, the MIS guy would love to slap office on our community RedHat boxes (yes in the Scientific community, Unix is a desktop and has long been on).
4) MS is just making this up in an attempt to distract from its lawsuit. That way the Judge(s) who may preside over the case next can read about it and think "well, they are porting it to Linux now, why do we have to split them?" and MS would never have to say it outloud.
Personally, given MS's behavior pattern of pre-announcing their annoucements, I take it with a grain of salt. Anyone who believed that NT would be desktop today instead of the upcoming WinME bug fix when MS said that Win98 first edition would be the last was a fool. Anyone who beleives that thier .NET annoucenment is nothing more then a smoke screen to keep people from adapting ISP's using Mozilla to deleiver applications while they whip something up that sort of looks like the .NET (which was vague anyways) is a fool. Just like "WinNT 5 (aka Win2000) is just a few months away" crap they pulled for what 4-5 years. Even if WinINFO isn't wrong, this is not "just around the corner" or "anyday now" this is gonna happen in a VERY long time. By that time, I'll be using ABI word on MacOS X for all of my WP needs, Linux kids will be using some GNU office suite of thier choice, and the rest of the Mac community will be using Apple works (they shipped it on EVERY damn iMac they sold, which is well over half of their shipping machines, eventually people just won't need office anymore)
Early visions of the Virtual Community haven't come to pass for a variety of reasons.
This clearly demonstrates you have no idea what you are talking about. AOL, the enemy of geeks everywhere, is FILLED with hundreds of not THOUSANDS of Virtual Communities. All built and maintained by its users. Unfortunatly AOL gets greedy and once the VC is popular, they take control over it and run it into the ground. The point still stands. I know of an other VC over at that other site that I won't mention that is maintained by its users. This is all not even mentioning IRC chatrooms, MUD's, webrings, Instant Messaging, et al.
Just because you don't like the very popular and available options does not mean they didn't/don't work out or exist.